For businesses
Registered office vs trading address: what customers read into it
A registered office is the legal address where Companies House and the courts send documents; a trading address is where the business actually operates. They can legally differ, and for most small companies they do. The problem starts when the registered office is a serviced address shared by hundreds of companies and the website shows no trading address at all — the customer then has no location for the business, and a check marks it down.
Key facts
- Every company must have a registered office in the UK jurisdiction it was formed in; since 4 March 2024 it must be an “appropriate address” where documents can be expected to reach the company — a PO Box alone is no longer allowed (Companies Act 2006, s.86 as amended by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023).
- Changing the registered office is free and takes effect on filing form AD01 online (Companies House).
- The registered office must appear on the company’s website, letters and invoices; a trading address is not required by company law but must be given to consumers before an off-premises or distance contract (Trading Disclosures Regulations 2008; Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, reg. 10 and 13).
- Some formation-agent and accountancy addresses host several thousand companies each; the register shows the count to anyone who searches the address (Companies House advanced search).
- In SafeToPay checks a serviced registered office with no trading address on the website costs 10 points of Record strength; with a trading address shown and confirmed by the Google Business Profile it costs 5 and does not block a green verdict (methodology v1.2).
The two addresses, and what each is for
The registered office is a legal mailbox; the trading address is a place. Company law only cares about the first, consumer law and customers only care about the second, and a check reads both.
| Registered office | Trading address | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Where official documents, court papers and Companies House letters are served | Where the business operates: workshop, yard, shop, office, or the owner’s home |
| Required by | Companies Act 2006 — every company, always | Consumer law — must be given to consumers before an off-premises or distance contract |
| Must be shown on | Website, letters, emails, invoices, order forms | Quotes and pre-contract information for consumers; nothing else compels it, but customers expect it on the website |
| Who sees it | Anyone, on the public register and on every check | Customers, Google Maps, delivery drivers |
| Can be | An accountant’s office, a formation agent, a serviced office, the director’s home — anywhere documents will reach a real person | Anywhere the work is actually organised from |
| Cost to change | Free, form AD01, same day | Edit the website and the Google Business Profile |
Using an accountant’s address as the registered office is entirely normal — it keeps a home address off the public register and means nothing gets lost when the workshop moves. It only becomes a problem when it is the only address the customer can find.
How a customer reads a serviced-office address
A customer who looks up the registered office on a map and finds a formation agent’s building shared with hundreds of companies has learned nothing about where you are — and, reasonably, assumes you might be nowhere. Consumer guides now tell people to do exactly that search, so it is worth knowing what they find.
How many companies share the address
Companies House lets anyone search by address, and the count is visible on the first page of results. A building with 600 or 6,000 companies registered is unmistakably a service address. That is not a mark against the business, but it tells the customer to look elsewhere for the real location — and if the website offers none, the search ends there.
How far it is from where you say you work
A registered office 40 miles from the area the website says it serves is common and harmless when a trading address is shown. Without one, the customer is left with a company whose only address is in a different town from its customers, which is what a phoenix or a pop-up looks like from the outside.
When it is harmless
A serviced registered office is harmless when three things line up: the website shows a trading address with a postcode, the Google Business Profile shows the same postcode, and the phone number’s dialling code belongs to the same area. A customer can then see a workshop on Street View, a profile with reviews at that location and a landline that matches — and the register’s mailbox address is correctly read as paperwork.
When it matters
It matters when it is the only address, when the company is young, and when the website also lacks a company number or a landline. Each of those on its own is a small gap; together they describe a business with no verifiable location, and that combination is one of the conditions for the red “cannot be verified yet” verdict when no company can be matched at all.
Working from home? You do not have to publish a home address. Use the accountant’s or a serviced office as the registered office, and give customers a service area plus a landline or a scheme registration number instead. Say on the website that you visit customers rather than the other way round — an explained absence reads very differently from an unexplained one.
Five address situations and how a check treats them
The same registered office can score three different ways depending on what else the website shows, so the table below is organised by situation rather than by address type.
| Situation | What the customer sees | SafeToPay treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Registered office is the real premises; same address on the website and Google | One address everywhere | Trading address confirmed; +5 for address and landline |
| Serviced registered office; trading address on the website; Google Business Profile at the same postcode | A mailbox on the register, a real place on the site | −5; does not block green |
| Serviced registered office; trading address on the website; no Google profile or a different postcode | An address that cannot be corroborated | −5 to −10 depending on other signals; “worth asking” |
| Serviced registered office; no trading address anywhere; mobile number only | No location at all | −10; blocks green; with a young domain and no reviews, contributes to red “cannot be verified yet” |
| Registered office is the director’s home; website shows a service area, landline and scheme number | A residential address on the register, explained on the site | Neutral; no serviced-office deduction; landline +5 |
Two real checks
Both from live checks; names withheld, figures as filed on the register.
Joinery manufacturer, ten years on the register, registered at an accountant’s address
The registered office is shared with 607 other companies and sits 38 miles from the workshop. The website showed a 0800 number and no postcode. A customer could find the company, its accounts and its directors — and no place. Deduction −10, and the only thing standing between a solid ten-year-old business and a green verdict.
The same company, after adding the workshop address to the footer
Trading address with postcode in the footer; Google Business Profile already at that postcode. Nothing changed at Companies House. The serviced-office deduction dropped to −5, the confirmed address added +5, and the verdict went green. The report now shows the distance between the two addresses as information rather than as a question. Time spent: ten minutes.
Enter a website address, e.g. smithkitchens.co.uk
Fixes, from ten minutes to one form
Almost every address problem is fixed on the website, not at Companies House; changing the registered office is the last resort, not the first.
- Put the trading address, with postcode, in the website footer next to the registered office. Label them: “Workshop:” and “Registered office:”. This alone removes half the deduction.
- Claim or correct the Google Business Profile so it shows the same trading address and the same phone number. This is what confirms the address to a check.
- List a landline with the local dialling code. A 023 number next to a Portsmouth postcode corroborates the location; an 0800 number does not.
- If you genuinely have no premises, say so: “We visit you — serving Hampshire and West Sussex”, with a landline and any scheme registration number.
- If the registered office is wrong or out of date, file AD01 online. It is free and shows on the register within a day. Do not move the registered office to your home just to look local — you will publish your home address to everyone.
- Check the register shows the change, then re-run the free check. Both read live.
Show the address before they search for it
A customer who has to look up your address on Companies House will find the mailbox; a customer who sees the workshop address, the landline and the map on your site never needs to. The verified business badge takes this one step further: it links from your website to your full public report, where the registered office, the trading address, the distance between them and the Google Business Profile match are shown together as facts, refreshed on every re-check. It is free and carries no verdict colour. If the register itself is wrong, fix it at source and then request a correction; what a customer reads on the record is covered in what customers see on Companies House.
Enter a website address, e.g. smithkitchens.co.uk
Frequently asked questions
Can my registered office and trading address be different?
Yes. Company law only requires the registered office to be an appropriate address in the right UK jurisdiction. Most small companies register at an accountant’s or agent’s address and trade somewhere else. Show both on the website and label them.
Is using my accountant’s address as the registered office a red flag?
No. It becomes a concern only when it is the sole address the customer can find. A trading address on the website, matched by the Google Business Profile and a local landline, resolves it completely.
Can I use a PO Box as my registered office?
Not on its own. Since 4 March 2024 the registered office must be an “appropriate address” where documents can be expected to reach someone acting for the company and delivery can be acknowledged. Companies House can move a non-compliant company to a default address and, eventually, strike it off.
How do I change my registered office?
File form AD01 through Companies House online. It is free, takes a few minutes and normally shows on the public register within 24 hours. Update the website footer, invoices and letterhead the same day, because the Trading Disclosures Regulations require the current registered office on all of them.
Do I have to put my trading address on my website?
Company law does not require it, but consumer law requires you to give a geographic address before an off-premises or distance contract, and customers expect one. A postcode is enough for a check to confirm the location against Google and the phone number.
I work from home and don’t want my address public. What do I do?
Keep the registered office at an accountant’s or serviced address, do not publish the home address, and give customers a service area, a landline or a mobile with a stated base town, and a scheme registration number. Explain on the site that you visit customers. An explained absence of premises is read as normal for many trades.
Sources
- Companies Act 2006, section 86 — registered office — legislation.gov.uk
- GOV.UK — Changes to UK company law (Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023): appropriate registered office address
- GOV.UK — Company address rules and changing your registered office (AD01)
- The Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008 — legislation.gov.uk
- The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 — legislation.gov.uk
- Companies House — advanced search by registered office address
- SafeToPay methodology v1.2 — Record strength: address and contact points